Re: Zoomer FAQ
Ken Wallich <wallich@ncd.com>
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Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 16:20 PST
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From: Ken Wallich <wallich@ncd.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <zoomer-list@grot.starconn.com>
Subject: Re: Zoomer FAQ
Status: OR
My first comment would be that you can place a copyright on the FAQ,
if you want. A collection *can* be copyrighted (rec.humor.funny is an
example). Of course, you should make it clear that you are planning
to do this, so if the submitter doesn't want their material included
in a copyrighted collection, they can choose not to submit. Then, if
you have enough people who don't like the idea, you don't have to do
it. Just a thought, if you really wanted to copyright the information
(not that I see any reason to do this).
Also, I notice that a lot of the areas are just plain blank. No
indication of what type of information you wanted to include. This is
fine if you want others to design the whole FAQ for you, but you're
much more likely to end up with a completed FAQ if you actually put a
lot of "what if's" out, even if you don't know the answers, and fill
it in. I don't know if you were planning just breaking down a Q&A
section for each application, or having a generalized Q&A section
(which you need as well.
Since a lot of the questions I've answered are 'how do you cut
information from one place to another in the address book' (to which
the answer is, you can't, there is no general cut and paste on the
Zoomer at this time, except between the dictionary and the notebook.
Specifically, the address book doesn't support cut and paste at all).
Another one for the questions could be 'I just accidentially deleted a
bunch of text, how do I get it back?' (to which the answer is, you
cannot, there is no undo mechanism on the Zoomer at this time). There
are literally dozens of these for the new owner of a Zoomer, and which
would be of interest to potential buyers as well ("Can I do delayed
recoginition in the notebook? Why the hell not?", or "I've got all
these great founding documents I refer to daily. How to I send the
text of the 3rd ammendment to a friend?" (answer, you can't. All
these documents are read only, but you can bring them up and retype
them, or dictate them over the phone) ).
You also want to put in the cute shortcuts like tapping on the
notebook name to bring up a notebook browser, or the infamous memory
leak, when and how to reset it, and what it resets, so you can decide
if you *want* to reset it :-) (like all your world clock information,
and the default documents the calendar address book and note book
bring up).
Anyway, seems pretty lean right now.
Of course, you also want to try to phrase the FAQ as generally
positive, so everyone doesn't go out and buy Newtons instead, but I'm
currently on the 'trailing edge' of the whole facination period where
I tend to focus on all the things I really wish it could do, instead
of what it does well (although it's still pretty cute) :-).